The fairy doctor must pronounce from which of these three causes the
patient is suffering. The fairy-stroke, or the fairy-bleat, or the Evil Eye; but
he must take no money for the opinion given. He is paid in some other way;
by free gracious offerings in gratitude for help given.
A person who visited a great fairy doctor for advice, thus describes the
process of cure at the interview:-
"The doctor always seems as if expecting you, and had full knowledge of
your coming. He bids you be seated, and after looking fixedly on your face
for some moments, his proceedings begin. He takes three rods of witch
hazel, each three inches long, and marks them separately, 'For the Stroke,'
'For the Wind,' 'For the Evil Eye.' This is to ascertain from which of these
three evils you suffer. He then takes off his coat, shoes, and stockings; rolls
up his shirt sleeves, and stands with his face to the sun in earnest prayer.
After prayer he takes a dish of pure water and sets it by the fire, then
kneeling down, he puts the three hazel reds he had marked into the fire, and
leaves them there till they are burned black as charcoal. Ali the time his
prayers are unceasing; and when the sticks are burned, he rises, and again
faces the sun in silent prayer, standing with his eyes uplifted and hands
crossed After this he draws a circle on the floor with the end of one of the
burned sticks, within which circle he stands, the dish of pure water beside
him. Into this he flings the three hazel rods, and watches the result
earnestly. The moment one sinks he addresses a prayer to the sun, and
taking the rod out of the water he declares by what agency the patient is
afflicted. Then he grinds the rod to powder, puts it in a bottle which he fills
up with water from the dish, and utters an incantation or prayer over it, in a
low voice, with clasped hands held over the bottle. But what the words of
the prayer are no one knows, they are kept as solemn mysteries, and have
been handed down from father to son through many generations, from the
most ancient times. The potion is then given to be carried home, and drunk
that night at midnight in silence and alone. Great care must be taken that the
bottle never touches the ground; and the person carrying it must speak no
word, and never look round till home is reached. The other two sticks he
buries in the earth in some place unseen and unknown. If none of the three
sticks sink in the water, then he uses herbs as a cure. Vervain, eyebright, and
yarrow are favourite remedies, and all have powerful properties known to
the adept; but the words and prayers he utters over them are kept secret,
and whether they are good or bad, or addressed to Deity or to a demon,
none but himself can tell."
These are the visible mysteries of the fairy doctor while working out his
charms and incantations. But other fairy doctors only perform the mysteries
in private, and allow no one to see their mode of operation or witness the
act of prayer.
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